The Healing Power of Alchemy by Charlotte Elea

Alchemy is the process of distilling something into its most pure, sacred essence.

It may sound complicated, but it is actually quite simple. On a physical level, it occurs naturally and passively when two disparate elements come together into the same space. As one element acts as a catalyst for the other, they both transform.

Alchemy on a personal and spiritual level is our own natural method of release, expansion and creation. It is a way that we may heal the factions within ourselves that cause doubt, depression, fear, and shame. It is the avenue that brings us into a state of sacred wholeness. Wholeness is our divine essence.

Allow me to illustrate this process through a recent personal experience:

I was experiencing anxiety around a personal relationship—the kind of anxiety that was leading me to go over again and again our last uncomfortable interaction and how I would respond to them, and how they would respond in turn. I asked my Highest Self to guide me, and the message I received was that I needed to trust this person in my life and really receive them, instead of focus on my fears and conception of them.

And so I committed to surrender to trust, and guess what happened next… Bam! All my emotional triggers fired up. My ego screamed, “People always fall through. What makes this time any different?” My inner child cried, protested and begged, “Please don’t let me be hurt again!” My shadow pointed out to me my core wound of being “too much,” saying I was too needy and no one could ever meet those needs.

All these factions within me were fighting to be heard, but they couldn’t hear each other because I had boxed them into separate compartments within myself, increasing the suffering by remaining in alienation. I thought that I needed to push these protesting parts of me away in order to remain in my Highest Self intention of trust and surrender.

Healing and alchemy begins when we take down those walls, and bring the hurting aspects of ourselves together in dialogue. We do not need to resolve internal differences, but rather, co-exist with ourselves in paradox. Alchemy is about accepting the difference; it is radical wholeness and self-acceptance.

So what happened when I took down the walls? I released emotions of grief and sadness, beliefs that were outdated, and the gridlock that paralyzed me. With my highest self now present with my inner child, ego and shadow, I provided myself with compassion and unconditional love, I took ownership over my needs, and I discovered new ways of expressing my true self.

The four most common self-aspects that become separated during these types of challenging moments are the Highest Self, the Ego, the Shadow and the Inner Child. Here’s a bit more about them:

The Highest Self is that part of you made from spirit, that helps you grow and evolve, that provides unconditional love, and is always looking after your best intentions.

The Ego forms your identity and keeps you safe. Without the ego, you would not know how to separate yourself from anyone or thing else.

The Shadow is all the parts of you melded together that you cut off and keep hidden and unconscious, connected to your past, pain, unresolved fears, trauma and wounds.

The Inner Child is your younger self in all her authenticity, vulnerability, joy and sorrow. She often holds onto aspects of you that never found expression, is a resource of inspiration, and is often in need of validation, holding and love.

When we allow these parts of ourselves to co-exist, we create self-dialogue and accept our internal differences. This is the radical wholeness and self-acceptance of alchemy.

Alchemy is a restful, passive process. With all of ourselves expressed and accepted, alchemy only requires that we surrender to it, and don’t try to resolve and fix. Therefore, it is also an intuitive process.

What happens in this restful state? Differences attract and interact, and new insights and creative inspirations break through. Love from radical self-acceptance pours through the heart, releasing trapped emotion, sadness, and grief. The ego, now heard and reasoned with, releases its grip and lets go of limiting beliefs.

Spiritual Alchemy occurs when we realize that it is not just our Highest Self that is being guided by spirit, but that our Ego, Shadow and Inner Child also have guides. Just as there are many different faces and facets of spirit, each of these faces finds a home within a different part of us.

What happens when we bring all of our guides together? What potential does this alchemical powerhouse of a collective create? These are the spiritual journeys for you to discover within yourself, as they open you to new realms of consciousness, wisdom and love.

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Intuitive Alchemy: A Journey of Release, Expansion and Transformation is now open for enrollment and begins April 18, 2017. This is a 6-week intimate healing circle where all of you will be embraced, all of you expressed, and all of you may expand. We will utilize intuitive exercises to reach into the depths of our psyches and group processes to create an alchemical healing experience.

About Charlotte Elea

Charlotte Eléa is an Intuitive Counselor and Tarot Coach. She guides her clients toward discovering their intuitive strengths and connecting to their inner wisdom, and is passionate about facilitating inquiries, connections and discoveries that alchemize growth, healing and transformation. She offers sacred group circles and individual intuitive coaching, working from a foundation in psychology, alchemy, counseling principles, Jungian archetypes and elemental spirituality. She has been reading Tarot and analyzing dreams for herself and others for over sixteen years. She can be found at dreamintuition.com.